I read that polishing the rails after a good cleaning with a metal polish will keep them cleaner and conductive better and longer. Has anyone used the buffing pads of their dremel to polish their track. How well does this work, do you go through a boat load of buffer pads ? Thanks, Dave
that might work rather well, though as you’ve pointed out yourself - it’d take a lot of pads. Not to mention youd only be able to get one rail at a time…
an interesting proposition nonetheless…
I have use my Dremel to clean my rails after weathering with my air brush…The key is to LIGHTLY buff the rails and not grind the rails…DO NOT apply pressure or you could add dips to your track…Lightly move the Dremel along the rails in light even strokes to avoid this from happening…
I simply use a piece of cork to buff the rails. It’s simple and cheap and it works. After the treatment with the metal polish (I use Blue Magic) I buff the rails with the cork. I tried it initialiy with my Dremel but all that did was throw a lot of dust from the dried polish into the air and wear out a lot of buffing pads. It also took much longer than just buffing with the cork.
Dremel has a nice buffing pad that looks something like a scotchbright pad cut into a 1" diam. circle. These work great as long as you don’t use too much speed or pressure.Probably their best use is to clean rails before soldering. One might be able to make up a mandrel that would hold two of these little wheels and do both tracks. The best thing I’ve found to clean rails after painting is to wipe them with thinner immediately after painting.
isnt a dremel a bit overkill for this?
i think a piece of cork would work just as well and would be far safer.
Peter
I’d be a bit concerned about picking up switch rails with the revolving polishing buffs. I once wrecked a set of switches with a rotary tool drilling through the sub road and the tool bursting through at the last moment and literally screwing up the switch. What a job, extracting the switch, replacing it re-ballasting… my advice, go real easy with the rotary tool where the rails get complicated.
I would use a block and 400-600 grit sandpaper, instead. Sure, sure, it will leave micro scratches…believe me, the manufacturing process didn’t leave something like the surface of an optical mirror, say with an RMS error of 1/4 wave.
When it comes to doing your turnouts with the block, so that you don’t pick the points and bend them, use the sanding block from the frog toward the points.
Finally, if you want to get fancy, run a washer over your rail surfaces, back and forth, and polish them to a much finer surface. You won’t be disappointed. Careful near those points!
Right on, Selector. I used that same sanding/burnishing step myself then put down a thin coat of metal polish and buffed it off with the cork pad. I did that in May and haven’t had to clean my track since.
No,Its fast and easy once you learn how.
What I find amazing is how many modelers underutilized their Dremel.I drill holes for coupler box screws,buff,cut,sand,polish,cut ABS plastic,cut balsa wood and other yeoman jobs…I would be lost without my handy dandy Dremel.
I think that a Brightboy pad is the quickest and most effective. You clean both rails at once without the risk of damaging ballast.
I do all that with mine too. It’s 15 years old and still going.
[#ditto] in spades!!
The Brightboy leaves scratches that fill with gunk, though. I picked up some brand of white rubber eraser at a hobby show a couple of years ago that gets rid of gunk like a Bright Boy but doesn’t scratch.
Is there a Dremel attachment that would let one hit both rails at once? Soaked in track cleaning fluid, it might be a winner…